


How soon they grow

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 09:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15070256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Rumple had years to enjoy being the tallest in his little family, he just thought he'd have a while longer.





	How soon they grow

Rumple knew Gideon was going to be a tall man. Thanks to his mother’s scheming he’d met Gideon as an adult before he’d held him as a babe. By the time he was out of his teens Gideon would tower over his parents. Rumple knew this.

After the Final Battle he didn’t have much time to dwell on the man his son would become. For the first time in many, many years Rumple was focused solely on the present. Belle and Gideon were everything he needed in the world. Working on their marriage left him feeling wrung out sometimes, especially after a session with Archie, but watching Belle crooning the lullaby he’d recorded for Gideon soothed him to the point where a happy smile became almost a permeant expression on his face.

The knowledge of the man his son would become settled into the back of his mind, present, but not dwelled upon or considered too often. Occasionally in the midst of midnight feds, teething, first words and steps Rumple caught a glimpse of adult Gideon in gesture or expression, but it was fleeting because the needs of the child in front of him were paramount.

By the age of ten Gideon was as tall as Belle. Rumple joked that they should have brought some of her skyscraper heels from Storybrooke. She’d pouted and then burst out laughing. From that moment on father and son would playfully tease Belle about her lack of height, bouncing quips back and forth until she rolled her eyes and attacked their sides with tickling fingers. As she pointed out her short stature made it much easier for her to reach their ticklish ribs.

At thirteen Gideon was tall enough and strong enough to pick Belle up. The first time he did this was to move her, so he could get the book he wanted from the shelf she was standing in front of. Rumple had chuckled about it for days. Belle had raised her eyebrows at him and given him a smile that suggest she knew something he didn’t. Rumple didn’t worry about this, there were many things Belle knew that he didn’t.

It wasn’t until Gideon was approaching his fifteenth birthday that Rumple finally realised what Belle had known with that secretive little smile. On a perfectly ordinary rainy-day Gideon strolled into the kitchen as Rumple was leaning on the counter preparing dinner. Gideon reached past him to swipe a tomato from the salad bowl. Slouched down as he was Rumple felt dwarf by his stretching son.

“Take your boots off, Gid. You know how your Mother gets when we track mud in.”

Gideon snorted; “Erm, Father?”

Rumple looked up at his son’s amused face and then followed his pointing finger down to the floor. Gideon’s sock covered toes wiggled at him. Rumple straighten up and stood shoulder to shoulder with his son. There was no denying it Gideon was at least an inch taller than him.

“When did this happen?”

Gideon shrugged; “Mother noticed about a week ago, she wanted to see how long it took you to figure out that you weren’t the tallest anymore.”

Rumple affected a dramatic sigh; “Well, you know what this means, son.”

Gideon bit his lip and then grinned; “That I get to put the star on top of the Yule Tree this year?”

“Aye that and endure your mother and me making tall jokes at your expense.”

“Pfft, I won’t be able to hear you all the way down there.”

At sixteen Gideon could stand behind Rumple and rest his chin in his head as easily as Rumple could do the same to Belle. The polaroid of the three of them standing like this made a lovely addition to their travel book.


End file.
